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Portmanteaus

 - 3 dictionary results

port⋅man⋅teau

  [pawrt-man-toh, pohrt-; pawrt-man-toh, pohrt-]
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–noun, plural -teaus, -teaux  [-tohz, -toh, -tohz, -toh] . Chiefly British.
a case or bag to carry clothing in while traveling, esp. a leather trunk or suitcase that opens into two halves.
Origin:
1575–85; < F portemanteau lit., (it) carries (the) cloak; see port 5 , mantle
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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port·man·teau   (pôrt-mān'tō, pōrt-, pôrt'mān-tō', pōrt'-)   
n.   pl. port·man·teaus or port·man·teaux (-tōz, -tōz')
A large leather suitcase that opens into two hinged compartments.

[French portemanteau : porte-, from porter, to carry (from Old French; see port5) + manteau, cloak (from Old French mantel, from Latin mantellum).]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

portmanteau 
1584, "traveling case or bag for clothes and other necessaries," from M.Fr. portemanteau "traveling bag," originally "court official who carried a prince's mantle" (1547), from porte, imperative of porter "to carry" (see porter (1)) + manteau "cloak" (see mantle). Portmanteau word "word blending the sound of two different words," is 1882, coined by Lewis Carroll for the sort of words he invented for "Jabberwocky," on notion of "two meanings packed up into one word."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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